The Expanse

The Expanse is indeed expansive with the universe it sets up within the pilot and through the characters presented. Unfortunately though there’s so much going on in the pilot that it quickly becomes a convoluted romp through space that’s more about showcasing the wasteland that humans have become than developing characters viewers will remember, let alone invest in watching.

There are enough lifelines to keep you going through the first four episodes, but Fergus and Ostby are mostly in over their heads. They probably could have used a few traffic cops as consultants to keep the story lines from becoming the entangled, confusing and plodding mess they often are.

The Expanse cuts viewers no slack. It plunges so quickly into its world that you may think, as I did, that you accidentally failed to watch the first episode.... Colorful characters, banter and some zero-gravity sex are more selling points.

It’s all a little too smooth and unexceptional, though--nothing in the central performances, the writing, the action or the computer effects goes beyond proficient, and nothing has the stark, strange, sometimes brutal feeling that made “Battlestar Galactica” compelling. For Syfy, the search goes on.

The problem isn’t with the overall look of Syfy’s The Expanse. Production values are first-rate through and through. But having little or no earthly idea of what’s going on can be a problem, even with the lengthy printed preamble greeting viewers of the Monday, Dec. 14th premiere episode

Much of The Expanse will feel familiar because, at least for four episodes, the writers are struggling to maintain momentum across at least three sci-fi-trope-heavy storylines that eventually could coalesce into something unique.

It tries to do too much at once in its opening episodes, which ultimately undercuts their overall effectiveness. Storylines about rogue elements, terrorist machinations, a missing woman and political gamesmanship are all crammed into hours that have very little room to breathe.